The world of TERA is a big place — and we want you and your friends to experience as much of it as possible. That’s why we’re offering a free, permanent level 58 character for all new and existing accounts. The Level Up Test Event offers a great chance to bring a new or experienced MMO friend into TERA so you can group up and start adventuring together immediately. It’s also a great opportunity to try your hand at a new class without having to start from scratch.

This event is for a limited time only. If the test is successful, we will use the feedback to further improve your TERA experience going forward.

• We will only allow one free level up per household for new accounts.
• For accounts that existed before 9/19/2013 at 10:00 am Pacific time, we will allow one eligible “.Levelup” character per game account.

– If you try and make multiple characters on your account or on multiple accounts, only the first created will become level 58.
– For existing players, one eligible “.Levelup” character should accomodate those with existing multi-player households.

• Starting Monday, September 23, we will run a script that levels up eligible characters.

– We will update here when the script starts, and when it completes.
– If you’re on the character when the script starts, you will be disconnected. Things will process just fine.
– If you’re on another character, you won’t be affected.
– We hope to complete the script within 24 hours, but that depends greatly on the number of participants in the test.

• Characters will provided with:

– Level 58
– 1 Name change voucher (non-tradable)
– 1 beginner mount.
– T11 soulbound gear for all classes (feel free to use the extra as fodder)
– All items will be sent to parcel
– All story quests (available, but incomplete)

While we are taking measures to ensure that the Level Up Test Event runs smoothly, we want to remind you that this is a test, which may result in technical issues or delays. Expect updates to this thread regarding such matters as well as announcements when we start and finish the script. If all goes as planned, all participants can look forward to a brand new level 58 character to adventure with in the world of TERA.

This are definitely some of the best-looking weapons and armor skins in the entire game. Why they hadn’t thought of this earlier is beyond me! Just awesome. (Mystics, as usual, get the shaft as our weapon looks horrible in comparison to every other class. Ugh.)

******************************

Everything’s Better with Steampunk!

The steampunk gear you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! Starting today, Thursday, September 19, you can purchase steampunk costumes and weapon skins from Valkyon Outfitters and Valkyon Outfitters Online.

You can also purchase and unlock a steamer wardrobe for a chance to win dyeable versions of the steampunk costumes or try out one of our steamer trunks—one for each class—containing “steam-powered” weapon skin variants!

Both kinds of loot box give you a chance to win the rare gas mask accessory for your hair slot, to put the finishing touches on that “mad scientist” look!

Throw the switches! Release the main valve! And unleash your inner steampunk!

Have they done this before and I just didn’t see it? TERA is a perfect MMORPG to cosplay. (Unfortunately, IRL, I’m the lovechild of a Baraka and a Popori.)

Be sure to create your best TERA-related cosplay outfit and snap a few pics (as well as following all of the rules below) to send to the devs. The top three submissions will win the Elin statue and an eight-piece Halloween themed accessory bundle. Best of luck!

(By the way, is anyone as excited as me to see someone cosplay a BAM? That’d be awesome!)

******************************

TERA Cosplay Contest

Do you have an amazing castanic outfit that you showed off at San Diego Comic-Con? Maybe you’ve been working for months on your kumas outfit so you could debut it at PAX Prime!

Well then, this is the contest for you! Create or re-use your TERA cosplay, and send us a picture for your chance to win an Arcadia elin figurine! Make sure to submit your pictures by 11:59 p.m. PDT on October 27, 2013 for your chance to win!

Prizes:

The top three submissions will receive one elin figurine (pictured above) and one Halloween accessory bundle. The Halloween accessory bundle contains one of each of the following:

Sunbright Mask

Nightsky Mask

Sunbright Domino Mask

Nightsky Domino Mask

Frankenhat

Ailuri Giantkiller Mask

Red Bat Hairband

Black Bat Hairband

Instructions:

Create or re-use a previously created TERA cosplay.

Take a minimum of two (2) pictures.

a. At least one picture should be of you holding a sign or piece of paper that says “TERA Rocks 2013” on it. This picture will not be posted to our website, even if you win. You do not have to be wearing your outfit in this picture—but the photo needs to provide reasonable verification (as determined by our judges) that you are responsible for the cosplay in the other photo(s).

b. At least one picture should be of you in your cosplay outfit. More pictures are always good as it allows us to see the detail! These pictures can be from a previous event or taken at different times.

Do not modify your pictures with any image-enhancing programs (such as Adobe Photoshop) except to resize.

Submit a .JPG version of the photos to community@enmasse.com by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Sunday, October 27, 2013.

As if brand new foodie weapon skins weren’t enough, TERA’s also having a double-drops weekend! If you were looking to get back into TERA, wanted to roll an alt, OR just looking to farm some good old gold, this weekend is THE time to play.

Introducing Foodie Weapon Skins

Kick your weapon up a notch with summer-food-themed skins for all your favorite weapons!

Every class gets its own special foodie weapon skin, perfect for picnics, barbecues, county fairs—and that extra moment of shock value in PVP.

Chocolate & Strawberry (Warrior)

Shish Kebab (Lancer)

Swordfish (Slayer)

Bento Ax (Berserker)

Sushi-Go-Round (Sorcerer)

Bananana (Archer)

Panda Ice Cream Bar (Priest)

County Fair Corn Dog (Mystic)

All of these weapon skins are available now from Valkyon Outfitters and Valkyon Outfitters Online. Be sure to also check those picnic basket loot boxes, which have a chance of dropping a random weapon skin or one of these other cool foodie items:

From July 17-24, random mob drops will allow you to temporarily change the size of your character (or its head) for 10 minutes at a time. I hope the items are able to end up on the auction house since this is a one-week event only. (I wonder what issues this will cause with hitboxes in PVP? Weeeee!)

******************************

You Can Be Huge! Or Small. Your Choice.

Shape changer items present you with your chance to become big in TERA. Or small, if you prefer. Does the size of your head not adequately reflect how truly awesome you are? There’s a shape changer item for that, too!

These items will randomly drop from selected monsters in various zones throughout the game—and bigger mobs mean bigger drop rates! Collect them all—and get as many as you can, because after next week, they’re gone.

Shape Changer: Grow makes you bigger and taller for ten minutes (or until you enter combat). You can stack these together to increase your size three times over!

Shape Changer: Shrink makes you smaller and shorter for ten minutes (or until you enter combat). You can also stack up to three of these together.

If you feel like a shrimp (or just hate the male cloth armor like I did) on your Popori or are tired of having to look over everyone as a Baraka, now’s your chance to make a change!

Announced earlier today: TERA is offering 50% off all appearance changes. The sale goes from Friday, July 12 at 11 a.m. to Monday, July 15 at 11 a.m. Pacific time.

******************************

Weekend Sale: 50% off Appearance Changes

If you’re tired of looking at the same character day in and day out, this is the sale for you!

This weekend, you can get appearance change vouchers for half off from Valkyon Outfitters and Valkyon Outfitters Online! Our sale runs from Friday, July 12 at 11 a.m. to Monday, July 15 at 11 a.m. PDT, so get them while you can!

Nearly a dozen different parts of the game have been modified (some thoroughly overhauled) in this patch. Not only have new battlegrounds been added (along with a guide), five dungeons and nearly all classes had changes, and some nice changes to UI and bug squashing, but the preview for alliances is now in the game (along with alliance halls) and will be enabled in an upcoming patch!

Common alkahest no longer drops from glyph boxes. These boxes now contain only refined or masterwork alkahest.

Animations have been removed from all bandages. Bandages now apply immediately.

Fae antidote dart, a quest item from “Faeries in a Fix,” is now discardable.

The price of Bahaar’s Spark of War increased to 3 gold, 21 silver.

The price of Kaia’s Acquiescence reduced to 32 silver, 10 copper. Surrender has never been so cheap.

System Changes

The background of the character selection screen now has a day/night cycle, which depends on when you log in to the launcher. Log in between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. according to your computer’s time, and your character screen will display a day background. Log in to the launcher between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m., and you’ll see the night background.

Added a feature to replay cinematics from the character selection screen.

The character creation screen has reordered the classes; also, you may now preview six outfits instead of just three.

When a quest provides a temporary mount, the player will now automatically dismount when the mount timer runs out.

If you receive enough damage to kill you, the system will display, “Killed by [AttackerName]” rather than the damage numbers.

Personal chat channels now remain even if the player goes to the character selection screen and then back into game.

Alliance Is Coming

The federation is crumbling, and alliances are sprouting up around the world of TERA. Construction has mostly finished—you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of the new halls!—but no one has moved in yet. You may also find some alliance UI additions, though these will not be functional until alliance content goes live.

Bugs Squashed

The wrong battleground screenshots no longer display in the Help Menu UI.

Dakona now consistently deals damage in Colossal Ruins.

Tezek’s thunder bolt trap now deals damage in Colossal Ruins.

Fixed the problem where you could not continue “Faeries in a Fix” without having completed the previous quest.

Now displays the correct error code when a banned player tries to run the client from the launcher.

Fixed the problem of the skill activation toggle remaining in the shortcut window even after the player has toggled that skill off.

Pet skill icons now gray out after the pet has despawned.

Fixed the problem of all chat channels inadvertently appearing in pop-ups.

Consumable item cooldown times now display correctly on the shortcut tray.

Fixed the problem where some premium item effect sounds were not being played.

Mommy. A 5 GB update to TERA! It’s probably best if you get that download started immediately so you’re ready to go on July 1. You can head over here for the official post.

******************************

Preload Corsairs’ Stronghold!

You won’t be able to play Corsairs’ Stronghold until July 1, but starting today you will be able to start downloading the update. Here’s what you’ll need to know:

First, this patch clocks in at around 5 GB, so be sure to have a little more than that available on your hard drive. Second, you’ll notice that when you log in, there will be something downloading, except that the Play button will still be lit, like it is below.

You’ll still be able to play TERA normally, and preloading will not happen while you play. It will only preload while the launcher is open, but TERA is not. When the preloading is completed, you’ll see that the bar looks something more like this:

One of the big complaints the Western audience has had about TERA since launch was how far behind the Korean version of the game the Western version is. Apparently this upcoming patch will start closing that gap. A brand new 20-man battleground, major class rebalancing, dungeon changes, and even quicker lower level leveling. Plus a slew of other changes.

A Note from Treeshark

Ahoy!

Since the last time we spoke, we’ve enjoyed quite a celebration month for our first year of live service. Our loading screen fan art contest yielded awesome entries, and Major Milestone made an appearance to reward challenge seekers. We handed out a few thousand Gourmando mounts through our scavenger hunt, and let’s not forget about the planting of the campfires…so many campfires. I also promised last time that I’d provide more details on the upcoming content for TERA, so without further ado:

On July 2, we debut a giant patch that contains Corsairs’ Stronghold, the battleground where you siege a castle with airships, cannons, tanks, and your own wit. You’ll join a team of 20 players to attack a castle and destroy its heart crystal while defending your own against another team of 20 players. However, unlike Fraywind Canyon or the Champions’ Skyring, this battleground is not just for max-level players anymore. Accessible at level 30, you’ll be able to earn experience via Corsairs’ Stronghold. All the gear in the stronghold will be equalized, so even if you’re not max level, you’ll contribute to your team. Other features of Corsairs’ Stronghold include:

Using tanks and cannons to both defend and attack.

The attacking team using airships to infiltrate quickly. Its lightweight strength is also its weakness, however, so be wary of incoming cannon fire!

A new daily quest added for Corsairs’ Stronghold.

Rewards of Bellicarium credits and, for non-max-level players, XP.

I’m pretty excited to play this with everyone! Hopefully I won’t get slaughtered too badly, but if our recent twitch streams mean anything, I probably will. This won’t be the only thing coming in our July 2 patch. I’ve talked about decreasing the gap between our release and Korea’s before, and this patch is our first step in this direction. There will be some major changes in the world of TERA with this patch, first and foremost being a slew of class-balance changes that will affect everyone. Yes, even you mystics with your shiny new thralls. Second, the levels, difficulty, and rewards of some dungeons will be changing as well. A lot of the dungeons you’ve seen in earlier levels will be pushed up a few levels, their difficulty and rewards adjusted accordingly. There are more details here than I can provide right now, but we’ll definitely be keeping you posted. Third, the Island of Dawn will be modified to provide you a quicker leveling experience in the early stages of TERA. We’re also making a lot of little changes that will hopefully improve everyone’s quality of life in TERA—starting with a bigger friends list.

Finally, a lot of you will notice upon logging in on July 2 that the political system as you know it is no longer active. As you may have guessed from everything else I’ve said, this patch is the prelude to alliances. The most important takeaway from this right now is that the current election ending this Friday, June 14, will also be the last one, so make it count! All the specialty shops will be open in this patch until the alliances arrive in August, when we’ll see the exarchs and the different alliances start controlling the world of TERAin their own way.

A patch this big in content is also pretty big in physical size, which is why we’re enabling you to pre-load this patch onto your computer later this month. The instructions and details will be available soon.

Now, all this happens in July, but we haven’t forgotten about June! For starters, every weekend starting June 14 will have its own set of challenges, akin to the Four-to-Score challenges we had last month. We’ll randomly choose a set of winners for a new rare prize each weekend. We may also have another twist in store for these challenges, but I’ll save that for later.

In summary, the next few months come with a lot of new content, big changes, and fun events to go along with them. We’re really excited about Corsairs’ Stronghold and the new changes coming up for TERA, and we hope you are too!